ROME — Only 117 of the 210 members of the College of Cardinals under the age of 80 have the right to vote in the conclave, which will assemble in the Basilica of St. Peter's after Benedict's resignation Feb. 28. The Vatican said Monday it wants to elect a new pope by Easter, which falls on March 31.

The election may reopen rifts within the Church as pressure builds to name a pope from the developing world where Catholicism is growing faster than in Europe and the United States. Openly campaigning for the position has been forbidden since the sixth century, and Benedict will have no role in the conclave to choose his successor, the Vatican said Monday.

Of the 117 voters, there will be 61 Europeans, 19 Latin Americans, 14 North Americans, 11 Africans, 11 Asians and one Australian, the Vatican said Monday. The number may vary depending on the date that the conclave opens.

Benedict's conservative vision is a direction his successor will likely continue given that 67 electors of the College of Cardinals were handpicked by Benedict.

Benedict XVI

Youth and priesthood

1927 Born Joseph Alois Ratzinger, in Marktlam Inn, Germany

1939 Enters minor seminary

1943 He and members of seminary class drafted into German anti-aircraft corps; deserts army and briefly held by American forces in prisoner of war camp

1951 Ordained a priest

1953 Doctorate in theology from University of Munich

1972 Becomes one of the co-founders of Catholic theology journal Communio

E 1978 Mother Teresa, left, and German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, right, attend a Mass during the 85th German Catholics Day in Germany

2007 Approves services with traditional Catholic rituals - a concession to the traditionalists

2009 Lifts excommunications of four ultra-traditionalists bishops, including one Holocaust denier

2010 On a trip to Spain, attacks abortion and gay marriage, both legal in Spain

Source: MCT

1.2 billion

Number of Catholics in the world

70 million

Number of Catholics in the United States

1 million

Number of Catholics in ColoradoSource: Pew Forum Religious Landscape Survey

What's next? The Vatican said after he steps down Pope Benedict XVI would live in a congregation for cloistered nuns inside the Vatican, although he will be free to go in and out. The Vatican's chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said he isn't even sure of Benedict's title — perhaps "pope emeritus."

The scoop Defenders of classical education and lovers of Latin the world over have a new hero in Giovanna Chirri. The reporter for the Italian news service ANSA understood Pope Benedict XVI's words when he announced his resignation in Latin at a private Vatican ceremony Monday.

The Pope and the Vatican, Encyclopedia Britannica, Pope's Diplomacy in the Nordic Countries. (Getty Images)

One-day event to run slide down University HillIt's not quite the alternative mode of transportation that Boulder's used to, but, for one day this summer, residents will be able to traverse several city blocks atop inflatable tubes.

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